1. Field of Invention
The invention generally relates to the deployment of a wireless network in conjunction with commercial outlets.
2. Description of Related Art
Network computing has revolutionalized everyday life. With the widespread popularity of the Internet, it has changed how people around the world obtain information, shop and communicate with one another. However, the rise in the usage of the Internet was accompanied by the need to upgrade and increase the existing communications capabilities of today's society. Whole neighborhoods and in some cases whole cities have been “re-wired” to meet the increased demands for communication capacity. However, the cost of “re-wiring” comes at a very high price. Laying down fiber optic cable and purchasing routing equipment is very expensive.
Additionally, with the evolution of wireless communications devices, a new “version” of the Internet has appeared, a wireless version. People are no longer required to be physically linked to a telephone jack or a communications outlet of some kind. People can now “surf” the Internet using wireless devices such as mobile telephones and laptops. However, in the present form of use, numerous towers and transceivers are needed to provide enough transmission capability and coverage for users to have even basic text message capabilities, much less graphical capabilities. In all such cases, the solution to increasing communications capacity lies with the purchase and installation of expensive transceivers. This is a fixed cost with no benefit to the wireless service providers (WSPs) besides the future increased bandwidth. These costs can only be recouped from revenue generated from service plans and this ultimately increases the rates charged to end-users.
Therefore, there is a need for a way to expand wireless networks by WSPs that is cost effective and that provides other benefits besides increased bandwidth. The present invention addresses this need.